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Amazon's Shopping Assistant Is Helpful, and Its Replies Have Ad Space
· New York time
Amazon's shopping agent now takes orders by text message, and the conversation where those orders are placed will carry sponsored product ads. A customer can use a familiar message thread to shop, while advertisers get a chance to appear in the same exchange. The personal assistant has acquired a second job as a storefront. For Amazon, the arrangement puts advertising close to the moment when a shopper is asking for help or placing an order. That proximity is valuable to a retailer that already sells both products and advertising. For brands, the attraction is a chance to be visible inside a conversation rather than only on a page of search results. The commercial message does not have to wait for the customer to go back to the store, because the store has joined the chat. The arrangement also makes the distinction between assistance and promotion important. Sponsored products are ads, even when they appear beside a useful response. Customers may welcome an easier way to order while still wanting to know when a recommendation has a commercial sponsor. The convenience is genuine: a text is a small thing to send. So is an ad, especially when there is room for it beside the answer. The modern shopping trip begins with a question and ends with the question of who paid to be in the reply.
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